A Chinese businessman caught in both Labour and National's Serious Fraud Office donation investigations is vowing to defend charges against him.
In May 2021, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) announced that criminal charges had been laid against six people in relation to a donation made to the Labour Party.
The SFO would not identify the defendants until name suppression issues had been resolved but it confirmed that "none of the defendants are sitting MPs or are current or former officials of the Labour Party".
The group was accused of providing five names to "create the illusion" of five donations of sums of less than $15,000 to conceal the amount and identity of the actual donor, according to court documents.
Labour's general-secretary Rob Salmond said at the time he was confident the party had followed the law.
Chinese businessman Yikun Zhang has now revealed himself as one of the defendants after name suppression was lifted, according to a statement released on Thursday.
Court documents provided to Newshub confirm this. Name suppression has also been lifted for brothers and businessmen Colin Zheng and Joe Zheng.
All three of them are also defending charges laid by the SFO in January 2020 over donations of $100,000 in 2017 and $100,050 in 2018 to the National Party. Former National MP Jami-Lee Ross was also charged. All have pleaded not guilty.
Name suppression remains for three people over the Labour Party donation charges, the court documents show.
Salmond told Newshub on Thursday: "As the matter is before the Courts, Labour won't be making any comment."
In November last year the High Court ruled that two criminal cases over allegations of unlawful donations to both Labour and National would be heard together at a joint trial, according to reports at the time.
Yikun Zhang said in the statement on Thursday that he welcomed the Auckland High Court's decision to lift name suppression, "given the intense public interest in the case and the need to protect the integrity of New Zealand's political system".
According to the statement, the charges against Yikun Zhang relate to several artworks he purchased from the Labour Party in 2017.
In March 2017, Yikun Zhang purchased five paintings from the Labour Party for $60,000, most of them from an independent art gallery in Ohope, the statement says. All of the paintings are on display in Yikun Zhang's home, it adds.
Yikun Zhang also purchased an antique imperial robe and two other works of art at a Labour Party auction event in September 2017 attended by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and then-Labour Party general-secretary Andrew Kirton, according to the statement.
The robe, the statement says, was donated to Yikun Zhang's hometown museum in China's Guangdong Province.
"These entirely innocent actions have seen Yikun Zhang caught up in a misguided prosecution. Yikun Zhang is also defending charges which relate to the way in which the National Party managed donations in the same year," the statement says.
The SFO's investigation into National Party donations was promoted after former National MP Jami-Lee Ross went public in 2018 with allegations against former party leader Simon Bridges, who has strenuously denied the claims.
Ross filed a complaint with police alleging Bridges had asked him to split up donations into smaller sums under $15,000 so they would not have to be declared to the Electoral Commission.
Bridges did not face any charges. Ross, Yikun Zhang and the Zheng brothers denied all the charges which accused them of adopting a "fraudulent device, trick, or stratagem" resulting in the donations being split into sums of money less than $15,000.
Yikun Zhang is currently in China and plans to return in late February, according to the statement, which says he obtained the High Court's permission in December to travel to see his dying mother.
"Sadly, as a result of the SFO's repeated refusal to consent to Mr Zhang's travel - he did not get to China in time to see his mother before she died," the statement says.
"The death of his mother and the distress of being away from his wife and children while waiting for a place in MIQ [managed isolation and quarantine] has strengthened his resolve to defend his reputation openly and transparently and to clear his good name. He sees no merit in suppressing his identity any further.
"His legal team is unable to make any further comment relating to these charges while the Court process is underway."
